Next time request a tow in!
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I have read with great interest Mr. K. W. Hutchingson's letter referring to 24-hour breakdown service facilities.
Of course where the driver of the vehicle made a mistake was in saying he needed a top hose. Oh not—he should have requested a tow in, then he would have had an immediate response, possibly from the first 24-hour breakdown garage he phoned. To take a hose and fit on the side of the road, and possibly take water too, that would be asking too much! But to tow in a vehicle and cash in on the cost of the towing and probably repair it in the morning at still more cost, is all too prominent on quite a number of the 24-hour services advertised in the trade journals and papers of today.
We can speak with authority on this because we ourselves operate a genuine 24-hour service in the Midland area. And when we say genuine, we mean genuine. We not only tow in; if necessary, we also repair a vehicle on the site and if a vehicle is brought in during the night it is repaired at night, if possible. We do not advertise as a 24-hour breakdown service only wanting to tow vehicles in and then leave the repair until the following morning.
Some 24-hour breakdown services are no good at all to transport operators. in our opinion. All they amount to is that the 24-hour breakdown service is offered by closing the garage at normal working hours and installing a phone by the breakdown operator's bed. He chooses which is "a straightforward job"—such as a straight tow in or an accident. The repair is left until The garage opens in the morning, regardless of how urgent the load or how the driver gets out of trouble.
We have experienced this sort of thing many times; for a tow in there is no trouble in obtaining assistance; but if it is a breakdown—which requires a skilled fitter— such as fuel trouble or broken fan belt at 2 a.m., no one wants to know the vehicle.
What it amounts to is that the gdrage offering a genuine 24-hour service, with all the overheads attached, can do all the running around and the garage that advertises 24-hour service in big headline letters picks and chooses its work. Until the advertising of a 24-hour service requires that the service offered should include not only towing in but a comprehensive repair service, then transport operators will still be experiencing the same kind of inconvenience that Mr. Hutchingson has written about.
D. P. LAKE, The George Service Garage (Crick) Ltd., Kilsby, Nr. Rugby.